Childhood Days
by Theisaryz Eufuelle
Summary: Another sidestory for Dirge of Hell. A series of oneshots (drabbles) telling the story of the childhood days of the gods and goddesses.
1. Chapter 1

Childhood days: Inside Cronus

Hades woke up with a smile on his face. Nyx and Erebus had finished their nightly visit and taught him new things through his dreams and he was eager to share it with his siblings. He gently woke up Hestia and Poseidon who were curled up on either side of him. They opened their eyes slowly, rubbed the salt from their eyes, yawned and stretched their limbs languidly.

"Hera, Demeter," Hestia shook the two small children. "It's time to wake."

Hera groaned and turned away from Hestia's ministrations and hugged Demeter in her arms tighter like a fluffy pillow.

Little Demeter laughed and tried to swat Hera's arms away with her pudgy hands. "Hera, wake!" she demanded cutely.

"Aw, you too?" Hera complained then groaned. "I still want to sleep some more!"

"Of course Hera should sleep," Poseidon rolled his eyes. "Unlike the rest of us, she actually needs it."

Her eyes snapped open at once as she sat up. "No," she hissed. "Unlike you, I actually enjoy sleeping."

"Hera, Poseidon," Hestia said rubbing her temples. "Please don't start so early in the day. You'll have plenty of chances to do that later. Now go and do your morning chores."

Every morning, Cronus would actually drink a large amount of water the equivalent of a lake. It doesn't directly fall to his stomach but waterfalls in a pool in his anatomy for a short period of time. Inside Cronus, there was a lot of dips and crevices of different sizes. The children were lucky enough to be human sized (cramped in such conditions, they have yet to realize their true form though humans have yet to exist) and land in a part of his anatomy with relatively comfortable conditions. The Titan king, as the progenitor of the adjective _titanic_, was really humongous and colossal in size (though numerous times smaller than the Primordial gods). The children use this ingested water to wash their clothes, faces, and occasionally their hair. The girls usually took longer to groom because they have to comb their hair until it sparkled, as Hestia once put it. They would also play in the water sometime before it drained away.

After that water drains away, Cronus would drink an equal amount of ambrosia. That was basically their breakfast. He didn't need to drink that much ambrosia originally but for some weird reason, even when he drank a little more he still felt hungry so he ended up drinking a whole lot (of course he had no idea that his children were stealing his food). He did notice though that in a weird, disturbing way, he ate like Rhea when she was pregnant… but that shouldn't mean anything.

After they were refreshed from their morning chores, they gather around Hades. It was now time for their daily lessons. On this day, he taught all of them three words and what they meant: guard, thief, and jail.

After learning new words, they must apply them through an activity to make the meaning stick. In other words, playtime! They played a game of 'catch me if you can' where Hera volunteered to play the 'guard' chasing the 'thieves', which were the rest of her siblings, and try and put them in a 'jail'. The rules were one of them would try to steal Hera's hair pin and they would pass it around between them while trying to avoid Hera's grasp. When caught by Hera, they would stay in a designated corner where no one could escape from after being placed in it.

When everyone clearly understood the rules, Poseidon volunteered to steal Hera's pin. Hera was guarding her pin vigilantly but the moment she let her guard down, due to a clever distraction created by Hestia, Poseidon swooped in and grabbed the pin.

The moment the pin was secure, they all burst out running. Hestia and Demeter ran one way while Hades and Poseidon ran the other. Hera had no clue which group had her hair pin but she decided to follow her brothers. She reasoned that if she needed to put someone in jail first then it better be her brother Hades because he always made all games difficult.

Poseidon looked back and saw her sister chasing them and playfully stuck out his tongue without missing a step, "Like you can catch us!" he taunted with a laugh.

"Oh yeah?" Hera shouted back and doubled her speed.

Hades and Poseidon laughed and ran faster. They ran in circles, up the walls and even on the ceiling. Hera chased them with all her might but eventually she grew tired.

She halted her chase and decided to catch her breath.

Both boys stopped ahead of her and waited to see what happened. "Hehe, weakling," Poseidon smirked when he saw her face.

"Are you okay, Hera?" Hades asked.

Hera nodded. "I'm – I think I'm going to look for Hestia and Demeter instead…" she panted.

"Giving up?" Poseidon laughed.

Hera snapped. She roared and chased Poseidon around with renewed vigor, completely passing by Hades. Hades felt relatively ignored so he just watched his younger sibling's antics while waiting to see if Hera would still chase him.

"You can't catch me!" Poseidon taunted once more, sticking out his tongue and putting both hands up his head, his thumbs on his temples as he wriggled his fingers and made a silly face.

"I will catch you!" Hera swore. She didn't care about the pin or the rules of the game anymore. All that mattered was putting Poseidon in the jail! And when she did, she will enjoy rubbing her victory like sandpaper over his smug, pompous face!

Poseidon was actually running so fast that his form left afterimages and when he saw Demeter suddenly appearing from nowhere, he couldn't stop himself in time to avoid running into her. When they collided, he actually rolled a few paces away.

_Uh, oh,_ he thought as he staggered to sit up and looked for his sister. She was lying on the floor in shock, the pain not quite registering yet.

"Halt!" Hades ordered at once when he saw the accident. He ran straight to Demeter and sat her up gently. Her eyes were shining with tears as she bravely held back the pain.

"Where does it hurt?" Hades asked.

Demeter shook her head in reply and sniffed. A few tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"Demeter I am so sorry!" Poseidon hurried to her side and knelt to her level. He visually checked if all her limbs were still attached; scared that they might not be after that impact. When he saw her crying, he was ridden with guilt and panic and apologized profusely.

Hera stood awkwardly to the side and let her brothers fuss over her sister. She didn't know what to do exactly but she was worried all the same.

"Again, I ask, does anything hurt?" Hades asked again, capturing Demeter's attention.

Again she shook her head stubbornly. She was a very brave girl! She can take a little pain. Brave girls do not cry.

Hestia appeared a short time later and saw the situation. "What happened?" she rushed to her fallen sister and held her gently. Demeter whimpered when she was moved.

"Poseidon ran into her," Hades replied. "What happened on your side? How did she separate from you?"

"We were hiding in a corner and I was looking around but when I looked back she was gone," she explained. "I'm sorry."

"Hera!" Demeter called. "Hera!"

Hera looked up and saw Demeter extending her chubby hands to her. Hestia gently passed Demeter to Hera and she took her awkwardly in her arms. Demeter hugged Hera tightly and said, "Caught Hera! Jail!"

"Wait, you still want to continue the game?" Hera asked in surprise.

Demeter nodded. "I'm okay."

"Can we still continue the game?" Hera asked Hades, she even attached a pout to that question.

"Game?" Demeter repeated her doe-like eyes wide and begging.

Hades knew they were ganging up on him, using their combined cuteness as a weapon against him but what can he do? He silently reached for the pin in his sleeves and tossed it to Poseidon while he took Demeter from Hera. "I'll take this little lady to jail while I wait for you to catch that thief. In the meantime, I'm changing my status to a guard. And Hestia, you're still a thief so don't let us catch you."

"Alright!" Poseidon cheered as he grabbed Hestia's hand and ran away with Hera screaming, "Come back here!" on their heels.

They played some more, their chase becoming a bit strategic toward the end and evolved to be a more complex hide-and-seek than a game of tag. Meanwhile, Hades tended to Demeter's injuries and when he was sure she was okay, he toted her around so she could see how the game was progressing.

The game was finally over when Hera caught Poseidon first then Hestia. Hera really did drag a protesting Poseidon by his chiton all the way to the jail. The smug smile on her face rubbed more salt on his already bruised ego. His humiliation didn't end when Demeter and Hades laughed at his state. Poseidon stayed in the jail with Demeter and obediently didn't move although showed the disappointment on his face as he frowned like there was no tomorrow. Hades and Hera, the two guards, teamed up to catch Hestia and that ended up quickly.

A couple more rounds and they played the day away. After which Hestia ordered them to perform their evening chores, which was basically the same as their morning chores. Then they gathered around Hades again and lied down around him. It was finally time to rest and end the day. But there were two more rituals to do before they go to bed.

"Sing, sing!" Demeter demanded as she tugged on Hades' hand.

"Alright, alright, settle down then," Hades chuckled. Poseidon took his usual spot beside his brother while Hestia took the other. Beside her Hera and Demeter slept side by side. They waited for Hades to sing his lullaby – the lullaby he'd been singing to them since they were infants. Though it was originally Nyx's Lullaby, he had changed the lyrics a little. He cleared his throat quietly and then sang in his sweet tenor voice (though a bit out of tune):

_Come don't say a word now,  
Come don't make a sound now.  
Close your eyes and rest your thoughts  
Let your spirit soar.  
I will send Hypnos to give you deep slumber.  
I will send Morpheus to give you good dreams.  
Close your tired eyes.  
Fall into peacefulness.  
Forget about your weariness  
And let your spirit soar._

The moment he summoned Hypnos and Morpheus, sleep seemingly took over the small deities. He kissed each of their foreheads, whispering a soft and gentle goodnight, before sleeping himself. Unbeknownst to him, when he was already so deep within the cradle of Hypnos, his siblings would all wake up in the middle of the night like they always do and perform the last ritual. They kissed him back, whispered an equally soft 'goodnight brother' before falling back to sleep. And thus end a typical day inside Cronus.

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AN: Fluffy isn't it? Next Chapter, "Childhood days: Zeus"


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Warning! Violence! Not suitable for children.**

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Childhood days: Zeus

_You were born to kill your father._

A small child as tall as a six year old mortal ran through the forest then came to a sudden halt. The forest was too quiet, too peaceful.

Too suspicious.

A slight breeze passed him by, cooling his sweat ridden brow and sweeping his blonde hair away from his gold eyes. It carried with it the scent of prey.

_Faster. Higher. Stronger. _

_Mistakes are unforgivable. _

There was a limited visibility on the forest floor and he needed a higher vantage point. With one glance around, he had already concocted a clever plan. He unsheathed one of the daggers on his belt and used it to cut two long and thick vines. He intertwined them both and circled the makeshift rope around a tall Hyperion tree, using the rope to brace himself as he scaled the trunk.

When he reached the lowest branch, he carefully tied the vines around his waist and used the branches to climb to the top. And when he reached the top, he took a moment to savor the crisp air blowing against him. He watched mesmerized as a bird flew by his shoulders and for a moment envy filled him. He wished to be like the carefree bird without a mission burdened on his little shoulders, without siblings to rescue, without a kingdom to take over, and without a father to murder. He banished the thought away and found that, twenty five kilometers ahead, there was a smoke pillar coming from what he observed was a giant's camp.

_Hunt. Kill. Survive. _

_There can be no weakness. _

He jumped from the highest bough and swung down a couple more branches like an agile monkey. When he once again reached the lowest branch, he immediately wound the vine around the trunk and began his treacherous descent. But on the way down, he took a misstep and slipped.

He immediately tugged on the vines with all his might and scurried to get a proper footing. The rough bark made it easy for his foot to grab and prevented him from falling all the way down but he had injured his left wrist in the process. After he managed to catch his breath and slow his heart, he resumed his downward climb, desperately ignoring the sharp pain from straining his injured wrist.

_Idiot! _He cursed himself when he reached the bottom and surveyed the damage to his hand. It was sprained and painful. He must have torn something because the pain felt like something hot was pulsing and radiating from the site of injury. But this kind of pain was nothing new. Taking a strip of his chiton, he gently wrapped his wrist securely.

_It would not affect my hunt. It would only be a minor inconvenience, _he convinced himself but he couldn't help resent his mortal-like state.

Gaea had confiscated his divinity because he needed to be hidden away from Cronus' sights. If he were still divine, Cronus would be able to sniff him out as easily as if he were a beacon of light in the dark.

But it also meant that his injuries wouldn't get any better soon.

Shaking his head, he stealthily moved about the forest ground, heading straight to the giant's base. When the giant was within sights, he immediately hid within the shadows and observed his prey's movements.

The twenty-foot tall male giant had just killed a centaur and was busy preparing his meal with a spit while whistling a cheery tune. Quietly, the golden boy Zeus stalked like a panther. It would be so easy. He had the element of surprise with him and the giant had his back turned to him. He wouldn't know who his killer was, wouldn't know who would jump on his back and easily slit his throat… slowly… quietly… easily…

A twig snapped.

Zeus' eyes grew wide as soon as he realized his mistake while the giant immediately turned around. He cursed himself mentally. It couldn't be helped. It was going to become a fight after all.

The giant didn't see the child because he was so small but for Zeus, all he could do was swallow down his growing fear and surge forward. With a loud battle cry, he brandished both his knives and wounded the giant's heels and knees, cutting the tendons and quickly disabling mobility.

The giant was taken by surprise but he was quick to retaliate. He grabbed his club and swung it down, almost hitting the child but missed, the child using his superior agility to dodge to the side. Again the child slashed at the legs, determined to bring down his bigger enemy.

The giant howled in pain and swung his club frantically. His enemy was no taller than his shin but the child was quick to change directions, rendering his blows ineffective and sloppy. Soon he figured to use his fist in addition to his club and managed to slug the small opponent.

Zeus flew a few meters away and hit a tree with a dull thud. Another disadvantage of being an immortal in a mortal's body was the accumulation of injuries and pain without actually dying. He felt his head and chest bang against the tree hard, his vision turning black for a second at the same time the wind from his lungs was knocked away.

He knew he was heavily injured. He could feel his head and back burn with excruciating pain. There was definitely a couple of broken bones in his body too. It was so tempting to simply lie still on the ground and pretend to be dead and pray to Mother Gaea to send the giant away. But that was the most wishful thinking of all wishful thinking. This was a mission given by Mother Gaea herself and he needed to finish it quickly or else he would be punished. He needed to finish the enemy quickly before he was fully incapacitated. As long as he could move a finger, he needed to win.

_Defeat is unforgivable. _

Zeus struggled to stand up, only to find that the giant was staring down at him with disbelief. The enemy was hesitating but he on the other hand could not afford to. Ducking, he crawled between the giant's legs and then grasping both his daggers tight, he used them to climb the giant's back, making sure to stab lightly in favor speed over damage.

The giant was shaken from his trance and tried to reach and dislodge the child from his back but Zeus was quick and lithe like a spider. Running on sheer adrenaline, the child was able to grasp the giant's hair with his injured hand and then with his other arm, brought his dagger around the giant's neck.

_Kill or be killed. _

_There can be no mercy._

With a quick, fluid movement, Zeus slit the giant's throat open.

_Victory! _He thought as blood sprayed all over his hands and the ground. Zeus quickly jumped from the giant's back and watched as his prey fell on the ground face up. This was his first time killing a sentient being. He had to overcome his fear to do he had just done and he thought he would be happier because he was one step closer to reaching his goal but all he felt was cold ice starting to build within his core. There was now a lump of stone lodged deep within his belly as he watched the giant look at him with fading eyes.

Death was already inevitable.

_Don't look at me. _

The giant opened his mouth as if to say something but it couldn't. Instead, tears had fallen from his eyes, tears of pity for him.

_Don't look at me! _

"Stop looking at me!" he screamed, kneeling at the bloodstained ground and covering the eyes of the giant with his small, trembling hands. "Stop…" he begged. "Just die…please."

Finally the giant took his last breath, taking something from Zeus with it as well. The golden child surveyed his handiwork for a small moment before it became too much and he looked away and retched. Still the ice didn't disappear. The blood on his hand suddenly felt as heavy as lead. The deed was done but he wasn't used to the sight of death. Not yet. But he will. He needed to.

_You were born to kill your father._

A light, cool breeze brushed through the child's face, drying his sweat, blood and tears.

_This should be enough,_ he thought. _Mother Gaea would be proud of me._ He tried to stand up but then he realized he couldn't. His body was a wreck, pain surging from everywhere. He was being torn into a million pieces both physically and emotionally and yet he knew he mustn't stay there lest he faint. He didn't want to be anywhere near the corpse. He didn't want to see the innocent blood he had spilt in preparation to spill the blood of his father.

_Sacrifices are necessary. _

"Papa? I'm done gathering more firewood—" another boy, no older than him, emerged from behind the bushes. Filled with shock at the sight of his father's corpse, the boy dropped his bundle.

Forgetting his pain, Zeus forced his body to move with no small effort and flee the scene immediately. He needed to look away. He needed to forget that he killed someone's father. He only needed to worry about killing his own father.

_There can be no such thing as family. _

He fled and with the help of Gaea, he found shelter in a nearby cave before his knees gave out in severe pain and exhaustion. He felt very heavy. He couldn't even move a finger anymore.

Gaea sauntered in the cave and looked at her grandson, lying on the cold stone and drenched in blood, with a frown. "I was disappointed in you today, Zeus. It was almost perfect but you have shed tears. I abhor tears. For that, you have failed."

_I'm sorry. _

_There can be no tears. _He added the thought on his growing list before he blacked out.

Thus end a typical day of training for Zeus.

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AN: Heavy drama here... Next time on Childhood days...Actually I'm torn between Eros, Hecate, and Cronus... which one do you want to see?


End file.
